Adley Rutschman's concussion adds to increasing pressure on Samuel Basallo to carry struggling Orioles team

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the Baltimore Orioles catching group. In this month alone, Adley Rutschman injured his hamstring, and Samuel Basallo was benched. On Thursday, a major national outlet published a big article reporting that Basallo needs to mature, and then, that same day, Rutschman got beaned in the head by an errant throw in the ninth inning of a game the Orioles were destined to lose. Then on Friday night, Basallo was involved in one of the ugliest plays of the Orioles season, and even if fans are more inclined to blame Ryan Helsley for melting down on the mound or Tyler O'Neill for making an ill-advised throw home, Orioles manager Craig Albernaz made it clear in his press conference that he was well aware of Basallo's role in the loss.

That's a lot of drama and misfortune for a two-week span at one position. During that stretch, the Orioles are 4-9, so when it was announced that Rutschman was going to have to go on the IL for a concussion, it felt like a large weight had suddenly been placed on the shoulders of Samuel Basallo.

With Adley Rutschman out Samuel Basallo must carry a bigger load

When Rutschman has been healthy, he has caught the vast majority of the Orioles games. With good reason, as he is the far superior blocker and framer of the two catchers. This division of labor allows Basallo to spend more time as a DH, stay healthier, and focus on the hitting aspect of his game.

With Rutschman out, Basallo will now slot into the starting lineup as the catcher for the majority of the Orioles games, as backup Sam Huff is a dramatically worse hitter than anyone on the Orioles bench outside of Tyler O'Neill. Ideally, Huff will start one or two games while Rutschman is out, and Basallo can take care of the rest.

With Rutshman's rookie contract dwindling and trade rumors swirling, this will be an interesting stretch of baseball to watch and see how Basallo handles being the Orioles primary catcher. If what was reported on by the Athletic about the team wanting him to work more with the pitching staff is true, then this is a great opportunity for him to lean all the way in and fully immerse himself in the defensive side of being a catcher.

As far as Rutschman goes, a concussion is a concerning injury, and Rutschman plays the one position in baseball where getting hit in the head is not a rare occurrence. So if the concussion is at all serious, this is not the sort of thing that he should be rushing back from, even if the Orioles need him.

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